Chimera
by MiyuTanemura
Summary: Belated writing anniversary fic to mdelpin. Natsu/Gray. AU. Pre-slash.


A/N: This is extremely belated and not enough quality but I do hope you enjoy it minimally, delpi.

* * *

 **Chimera**

Everything began when a young pair of rascals, Natsu and Gray, decided to go on an adventure, to go explore the forest near Magnolia.

At first the duo was just walking through already familiar places. The well-defined paths that did show the comings and goings of people. They were surrounded by some shrubbery and the tall trees. Natsu stopped, turned to Gray with that shit-eating grin that Gray already knew was bad news – they had heard a good number of sermons, thanks to that grin.

"Hey, do you know what should be fun?" The grin was at full-blast power. Gray was suspicious right away.

"What?" he asked nonchalantly as he bent to pick a small rock. He made sure to inspect it, pretend that he wasn't feeling curious.

"We should go deeper into the forest. Try to find the nascent."

"The nascent to the river?" Gray repeated, turning the statement into a question. He threw the rock to the middle of the shrubbery.

"Yup. Aren't you curious?" Natsu asked expectantly. As he only got a shrug in response he continued. "Haven't you heard the olds talking about the _mystical apparition_?"

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked confused.

"So you haven't heard." Natsu puffed out his chest and pretended to be important as he clapped Gray on the shoulder. "Apparently if you find the nascent a… something will appear and make a prediction of sorts." He leaned forward, conspiratorially, "And more often than not, they're right. If Gramps is to be trusted."

"What? Gramps too?" Gray's eyes had widened. "I wonder what that might be."

"I don't know but _we_ have to find it. Yeah?" Natsu extended his hand, waiting for Gray.

"Fine." Gray shook his hand. "Let's do this."

And so they went fearlessly into the darkness. Leaving behind the sunny day, as well as the happily chirping birds.

A strange penumbra had fallen in the midst of the forest, only the lone sunray managed to filter through the heavy foliage. The trees were stood very close, making it hard to follow a path. The shrubbery was also tall and many of the shrubs had tiny prickly bits that scratched and left an itchy impression on skin.

But neither young mage thought much about it. They were in it for the adventure so they were exchanging silly comments, the posturing they saw in the older mages at the guild. And then Natsu stopped suddenly. They were in what actually looked like a small path, a line of lighter dirt was mixed with the dark brown one.

"Hey, don't you hear it?" The fire mage asked.

"Huh? What?" Gray asked, looking around.

"Water. I think we must be close to it." Natsu said exultantly. He focused before nodding – Gray could see the smartass expression on his face. "Yeah, it's there. Aaaaand, I race you!" Natsu said before starting to run towards it, in the small path.

"Hey! You're a cheater!" Gray yelled as he quickly ran to catch him.

The two were so distracted with their race that they didn't take enough care, despite the path filled with obstacles or the darkness all encompassing. They were laughing and teasing each other, laughing and proclaiming that they were the winner. Natsu had to slow down a bit before he slammed against a tree trunk and that gave Gray the few paces ahead he needed to be in the front. Despite the darkness he kept going, looking over his shoulder and not noticing as he ran right through a sudden misty cloud.

Natsu had gotten back on the race and was just a few paces behind but he noticed the mist, he saw it twirling and get more solid, taking a human shape.

His reflexes made him stop right before knocking against the woman who had materialized before Natsu's eyes. And, upon a glance ahead, that saved him from falling down a small ravine. Natsu's breath caught and he rushed to the edge. Looking for Gray.

"Gray!" Natsu yelled as he saw the quiescent body of his friend amid the tall vegetation. The young fire mage called his friend a few more times but had no response. And that started to freak him out.

"Calm down." The words were said in a low yet strong voice. Natsu turned to the ethereal-white woman, glaring, and opened his mouth. A hand was placed on his shoulder and Natsu felt himself relaxing. Still, he looked up, brow still furrowed. The woman glanced down the ravine and then focused on Natsu. "You two should be more careful. The world is not a safe place."

"We _know_ that." Natsu mumbled as he looked down and rolled his eyes. He'd crossed his arms defensively.

"Your actions don't show that. But that is something you need to understand. And the importance of the other. You should take better care of your friend." Was the softly-spoken yet firm reply.

"No, I don't. We're both grown-ups and don't need to be taken care of." Natsu said, scoffing.

"You don't know the importance you both have in each other's lives." The woman said softly as she patted Natsu's head. The fire mage let out an indignant noise and turned to grumble at the woman.

But she had disappeared.

Natsu blinked, confused. He looked around but he was alone. He shrugged to no-one before starting to look for a better way to climb down the ravine.

As he made his way down, sliding and grasping at the small vegetation so as not to completely lose his footing and, therefore, controlled descent, Natsu started to pick up some noises. Gray was stirring as Natsu got to the foot of the ravine and rushed to him.

"Gray! Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"What do you think, flame brain? I've fallen and am just peachy." Was the sarcastic reply. Gray had sat up and was trying to bat away at Natsu's hands. The fire mage was inspecting the scrapes and bruises.

"Damn it, the old man is going to be _pissed_." Natsu said as he looked at the big scrape Gray had on his arm due to having lost his shirt somewhere. Neither had noticed when. "Hey, stop it."

"I'm fine, flame breath. Yeah? Help me up." He extended a hand and Natsu scrambled up to hold it and pull Gray upwards.

Neither expected the pained noise that freed itself from Gray's throat.

"What? Where?" Natsu asked hurriedly as he tried to keep Gray upright and find whatever was wrong with him.

"M-my ankle. It's… not too well." Gray gasped. "I guess something happened after all."

"Shush." Natsu lowered himself to one knee so that he could inspect Gray's right foot. Sure enough the ankle seemed to be swelling a bit, it was red and felt warm to the touch. "You're right. But we need to get to the village. There's nothing we can do here."

"Wow, what a surprise…" Gray wheezed out as he held Natsu's arm. "And now, how do we do this?"

"You can use me as a crutch? I can bear some of your weight and so you won't have to put any weight on that foot." Natsu offered as he started turning and stepped closer to Gray.

"Sheesh. This is the last time I race you." Gray grumbled as they started to walk towards Magnolia, following the river.

"As if. You want to show that you're better than me." Natsu said in amusement.

"I am too." Was Gray's quick retort.

The way back to Magnolia was slow and painful. Filled with pauses to rest and for Natsu to whine about being hungry. It was quite late when they got to Magnolia and to the guild.

And they heard one sermon that had both their ears burning, after being taken care of.

And thus the rule of not racing each other during exploratory adventures was born. Which was still followed.

Most of the time…

* * *

Many years went by.

The team was deep underground, on a mission. They had to find a book – apparently it was quite important and dangerous – which was locked away in a chest.

The underground was an absolute maze, very dusty and with the overlaying scent of moldiness. Natsu wasn't a fan – and he'd said so already, much to his friends' amusement and he ended up being teased. Everything was calm, they were advancing slowly, being careful to not be noticed. But suddenly Natsu caught a noise. He only had time to pull Gray towards him before the wall caved in – the team had become separated; Natsu and Gray to one side and Erza, Happy and Lucy to the other.

Light had gone out too. The boys weren't able to hear or talk to their friends on the other side of the earth wall so their only option was to keep going. And then Natsu stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face, which elicited a chuckle from Gray.

"Shut up!" Was the quick reply as Natsu felt around and made a victorious noise. And suddenly there was light. "Looks like I've stumbled on a stack of wood. What the fuck is this doing here?"

"I have no idea but I'm not here to comment on the organization – or lack thereof – these people have. We just have to finish our thing." Gray said as he looked down to the dark tunnel.

"I'm not saying that we have to comment. But it's weird." Natsu continued.

"Not as weird as the idiotic idea that landed us in here. This place gives me the creeps." Gray said as he looked into the junction of more tunnels. The light coming from the piece of wood wasn't much.

"Hey, I'm not the one to blame. Go talk to Erza or Lucy. In this one I'm really not to blame."

"Didn't say you were. This time, at least." Gray glanced at Natsu and grinned. "But we need to find a way to complete this mission and find the girls and Happy."

"I know. But this is a maze and there are too many scents – I can't make out some things…" Natsu said with a pout.

"There are too many corridors. How are we going to get out of here?" Gray asked rhetorically as they found more corridors on their way – some plunged in darkness and others lit with flickering flames.

"Shhh, I'm hearing voices." Natsu said suddenly, putting out the light. And there were, voices coming their way.

The two mages pressed themselves against a nook on the wall and waited. But they didn't expect for the wall to crumble away and for them to fall through it, being quickly engulfed by darkness.

After a deep plunge, they fell but didn't impact the hard soil, no instead they were caught in what felt like vaporous ropes which broke their fall and they both landed without much harm. Or so, Natsu thought.

Upon taking a look around, Natsu noticed that they found themselves in a totally different place, which left a weird, grease-like feeling against their skin.

The air was too humid, there was a scent of putrefaction but it was mostly masked by the scent of a large body of water.

 _Weird, I didn't know there was a lake here._ Natsu thought. A small sound alerted him from his contemplation and he turned around to see Gray lying beside him and groaning softly.

Natsu shook his head and stood.

"You okay?" he asked as he extended a hand to help hoist Gray up.

With both of them now standing up, they walked to the edge of the water. It was luminescent.

The green glow of the space was slightly sickly, and overall, it helped with the slightly spooky vibe of the place.

Suddenly, the light changed. It shifted from green to yellow and to golden before it became silvery white.

This allowed Natsu to see that there were many lake-like watery mirrors in the cavernous space. It was immense.

And then, seemingly coming from the water of the mirror-lake to their left, a figure emerged.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock. His mouth fell open and he blinked a lot, trying to make sense of what he saw.

Natsu _knew_ this lady. He'd _seen her_ , once upon a time. A long time ago.

"You!" The word escaped his lips, unbidden as he tried to locate from where he knew her.

And then it downed on him. _Their adventure_. The lady who had said those cryptic words that Natsu hadn't quite understood but had made him pay closer attention to the ice mage. And that was something that he'd taken to heart. And that was also what had made him realize how the two of them clicked. They fit together strangely well and Natsu wasn't sure of what to do with that knowledge.

As those thoughts had been rushing through his mind, Natsu had been momentarily distracted. And that was all it took.

The water from the lakes raised in columns, mists wafting through the space. And then, before either of them had time to react, they'd been engulfed by two smaller columns. Gray was thrown against the rough stone wall and Natsu was still spinning inside of it. Then, the quality of the water changed, it was bubbling all around him – and it burned. It was acid and was burning Natsu, excruciating pain engulfing his whole being, burning from both the inside and out. It wasn't the kind of burning Natsu was able to endured.

Before long, it stopped and Natsu fell heavily on the ground.

Dizzy, the fire mage saw Gray standing and seeming to have done something to the column that had crashed against him but he was quickly pushed back. Natsu sent a large wave of fire that broke the column and released Gray.

It was at that point that it made sense to Natsu. He noticed the cadence of the columns of water; they were being attacked one at a time and the other was able to break it off.

That didn't mean that they weren't taking a beating. They most certainly were – Natsu still had a hard time moving and Gray had his back rubbed raw. Of course that his shirt had been lost somewhere in the process.

And through it all, that woman stood. Glistening like a beacon of light amid the chaos.

She seemed to be looking impassively at the two mages, a small smile on her lips.

It pissed Natsu off. So the next time he got free from contending with the huge column of water that seemingly wanted to crush him against the wall, he ran towards her. A flaming fist directed at her only… to slice through air. The woman had disappeared into the mist.

But Natsu didn't have time to process that as he was swallowed by a new column of water – which soon engulfed Gray too.

The two mages were tossed around inside of it. Swirling and swirling inside, to the point of finding themselves side by side. Their hands found each other instinctively and everything around them stopped. They were encased in a column of ice which was then blasted away by fire. They were momentarily suspended in the air and as gravity started doing its job, they were surrounded by a gentle breeze which placed them carefully on the ground. Their wounds healed.

"What the-?" they asked as they glanced at each other.

"We meet again." The lady said as she seemed to glide towards them. "And this time around you did prove yourselves."

"What do you mean by that?" Gray asked suspiciously. Natsu was glaring behind him.

"That you deserve your prize."

"Prize?" Natsu said as he walked to stand before Gray.

She held her hands before her and a book materialized.

"Isn't this what you're looking for?" She asked a thin eyebrow arching in question.

"We are… but… what-?"

"How do you have that?"

"I must caution you about its contents. They are not to be used unwisely." She handed it to Natsu. "Its power can be dangerous." She said before another wave of water crashed into Natsu and Gray.

In the blink of an eye they found themselves standing in one of the dead-end corridors, which was lit flickeringly. They were dry and looked at each other in shock. Natsu was still holding the book.

"What the hell was that?" Natsu asked. Gray was opening his mouth to reply when they were interrupted.

"You're here!" Lucy's voice carried the shock everyone was feeling.

"How's that possible?" Erza wondered as she held her side. She was bloody but it didn't seem to be her blood.

"Naaaatsuuuu!" Happy said as he flew right at Natsu's face. "You're here!"

"We are but, what happened to you?" Gray asked.

"We've been fighting hordes of enemies ever since we got separated." Erza replied.

"It's not fun in the least. They're like roaches!" Lucy added in distaste.

"And we didn't get around to look for the chest." Erza concluded.

"Yeah, so far it's been quite crappy. And tiring."

Gray was about to open his mouth to reply, he took one step before tripping on something. He looked down and then up at Natsu.

The chest.

They exchanged a look. No words seemed to be needed to be exchanged, there was an undercurrent of something between them that was momentarily broken as Natsu bent down and caught the chest.

"Is this it?" He wondered out loud as he opened it. "Huh, it's the same book Gray."

"What do you mean by same?" one of the girls asked from the distance.

"Doesn't matter now. We need to get the hell out of here." Gray said decidedly.

Natsu extended his hand and Gray held it. They smiled as a faint green glow appeared on the ground before them. With a nod at each other – and much to the girls' and Happy's confusion – they started walking.

"Okay, let's get the hell out of here!" Natsu said with finality.

* * *

A/N: Well, that was pointless...

But thanks for reading, if you've lasted until here.


End file.
